I hope you have enjoyed our little mini-series on The Flock ...
Here are a few concert poster photos we came across recently ... along with some of Fred's corrections and amendments to our article:
I collect bootleg recordings.I have a bootleg of The Flock playing on November 8, 1971.Also, I went to the Goose Lake Rock Festival in 1970 and they played there, too!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goose_Lake_International_Music_Festivalhttp://makemyday.free.fr/70/mc5_posters_1970_4.htm HWigoda
Here are a few concert poster photos we came across recently ... along with some of Fred's corrections and amendments to our article:
I collect bootleg recordings.I have a bootleg of The Flock playing on November 8, 1971.Also, I went to the Goose Lake Rock Festival in 1970 and they played there, too!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goose_Lake_International_Music_Festivalhttp://makemyday.free.fr/70/mc5_posters_1970_4.htm HWigoda
Wow ... look at that line up!!! Savoy Brown, Jethro Tull, Joe Cocker, Ten Years After, Mountain, Chicago, BobSeger, John Sebastian, Alice Cooper, The James Gang, Brownsville Station, The Flying Burrito Brothers ... and The Flock ... all on the same bill!!! Amazing! (kk)
In fact, here's another cool poster we received:
In fact, here's another cool poster we received:
Incredible to think that you could see THIS line up ... The Grateful Dead, Fleetwood Mac and The Flock for five bucks!!! And look who's coming ... a virtual late-'60's / early-'70's Who's Who of artists: Chicago Transit Authority, Sly and the Family Stone, Iron Butterfly, Poco, Rotary Connection, Canned Heat, The Band, Three Dog Night, Johnny Winter, Country Joe and the Fish, Blues Image, Pacific Gas and Electric ... man, THOSE were the heady days of rock and roll music!!! (kk)As Fred Glickstein read through our special mini-series he found a few corrections that he wanted to clear up ... keep in mind that Jeff Lind wrote his "History Of Chicago Rock" nearly 35 years ago and was using the information available to him at the time ... and since Jeff is no longer with us (he passed away a couple of years ago), we offer up these corrections as a means of setting the story straight and getting it right for future generations to come. (Hopefully our FH Buddy Guy Arnston is paying attention and taking notes so he can also right these wrongs, minimal as some may be, when he finally publishes his ultimate guide to The Chicago Music Scene!!!)
>>>At their inception, the Flock included Fred Glickstein on guitar (he later added trumpet and organ to his repertoire) and lead vocals; Rick Canoff on tenor sax and vocals; Rick Mann on guitar; Jerry Smith on bass; and Ron Karpman on drums. (Jeff Lind)
FRED GLICKSTEIN: I just want to say that everybody sang in the original band - in fact, Jerry Smith sang lead on "Can't You See", our first single.
>>>“Take Me Back” was rearranged by the group, with Bobby Whiteside producing. With a full horn section consisting of Posa, Glickstein, Webb and Canoff, the song never stopped its driving, frenetic pace (it had to be faded out). Sax solos by Webb and Canoff screeched over the rhythm section, as the group kept repeating the hook, “take me back.” It was two-and-a-half minutes of compressed energy. (Jeff Lind)
FG: Bobby Whiteside wrote the horn arrangement for "Take Me Back" and hired some outside STUDIO musicians to handle the brass parts. To the best of my recollection, The Flock members did NOT play brass on this track ... and this is ESPECIALLY true of me ... Fred! The sax solo was by Canoff only ... Webb was not featured during the solo on this track. By the same token, Webb did not write all of the horn arrangements on the first album ... Canoff and Posa also worked on these arrangements.
>>>A classically trained violinist (who played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for several years), Jerry Goodman had been friends with the members of the group since their days at Sullivan High. He had been serving as part-time roadie, sound man, etc., with the group and was digging their musical evolution the whole time. Even with all of his classical experience, he had a yearning to try something different with the violin, namely playing the instrument in a rock contest. (Jeff Lind)
FG: Jerry Goodman was NOT a member of The Chicago Symphony Orchestra ... but both of his parents were. Jerry would have been too young ... he was younger than all of us ... eighteen maybe.
>>>They asked Jerry Goodman to sit in on the recording of their next record for the Destination - U.S.A. label. That session, in early 1968, was a landmark occasion, as it helped to define the musical direction that Chicago rock was to take during the next few years. The song they cut that day, “What Would You Do If the Sun Died?”, was the most advanced recording of its time, featuring Webb’s complex horn arrangements, electronic effects, vocal phrasing, haunting lyrics, and full-bodied production of the rhythm section. (Jeff Lind)
FG: "The most advanced recording of its time?" Lol ... what about "Strawberry Fields Forever"?!?! That's pretty flattering but it's not really true. As for the rest of this statement, Webb did NOT do the horn arrangements for this track ... my music teacher did the horn arrangements - Bob Resseger, a music teacher at Chicago's Teachers College (now Northeastern in Chicago) actually did these after he was approached by me. I wanted a real orchestra feel for this track so I asked my music teacher, Bob Resseger, if he would be interested in scoring something for us ... and he wrote all these really cool parts for all these different instruments. We did the recording at Chess Records. In fact, Jerry Goodman isn't even on this session ... he hadn't joined the band yet ... but get this, his MOTHER was on the session!!! She was one of the players that The Chicago Symphony Orchestra sent over for the recording session. (I don't know if I've ever told this story before!) So she comes walking into the studio and Jerry was there just kinda hangin' out and helping us get our stuff together and he looks up and sees his mother coming into the studio and calls out "Mom, what are YOU doing here?!?!?" She had been hired for the session ... so Jerry's Mom actually played on a Flock record before Jerry even joined the group!
>>>The release of the group’s second album, Dinosaur Swamps, in the middle of 1970, marked another change. Produced by Ron McClure, it showed a more unified group effort than the first. It was a concept album which attempted to link the spirit of the past and the present. Webb wrote three of the songs and was featured more often as soloist. He sang lead on the lively “Mermaid,” a song which brought folklore into the Flock’s rock. (Jeff Lind)
FG: First of all, "Dinosaur Swamps" was produced by JOHN McClure, not Ron McClure ... and Webb did NOT sing lead on "Mermaid" ... that's Fred Glickstein ... me!!!
>>>“Take Me Back” was rearranged by the group, with Bobby Whiteside producing. With a full horn section consisting of Posa, Glickstein, Webb and Canoff, the song never stopped its driving, frenetic pace (it had to be faded out). Sax solos by Webb and Canoff screeched over the rhythm section, as the group kept repeating the hook, “take me back.” It was two-and-a-half minutes of compressed energy. (Jeff Lind)
FG: Bobby Whiteside wrote the horn arrangement for "Take Me Back" and hired some outside STUDIO musicians to handle the brass parts. To the best of my recollection, The Flock members did NOT play brass on this track ... and this is ESPECIALLY true of me ... Fred! The sax solo was by Canoff only ... Webb was not featured during the solo on this track. By the same token, Webb did not write all of the horn arrangements on the first album ... Canoff and Posa also worked on these arrangements.
>>>A classically trained violinist (who played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for several years), Jerry Goodman had been friends with the members of the group since their days at Sullivan High. He had been serving as part-time roadie, sound man, etc., with the group and was digging their musical evolution the whole time. Even with all of his classical experience, he had a yearning to try something different with the violin, namely playing the instrument in a rock contest. (Jeff Lind)
FG: Jerry Goodman was NOT a member of The Chicago Symphony Orchestra ... but both of his parents were. Jerry would have been too young ... he was younger than all of us ... eighteen maybe.
>>>They asked Jerry Goodman to sit in on the recording of their next record for the Destination - U.S.A. label. That session, in early 1968, was a landmark occasion, as it helped to define the musical direction that Chicago rock was to take during the next few years. The song they cut that day, “What Would You Do If the Sun Died?”, was the most advanced recording of its time, featuring Webb’s complex horn arrangements, electronic effects, vocal phrasing, haunting lyrics, and full-bodied production of the rhythm section. (Jeff Lind)
FG: "The most advanced recording of its time?" Lol ... what about "Strawberry Fields Forever"?!?! That's pretty flattering but it's not really true. As for the rest of this statement, Webb did NOT do the horn arrangements for this track ... my music teacher did the horn arrangements - Bob Resseger, a music teacher at Chicago's Teachers College (now Northeastern in Chicago) actually did these after he was approached by me. I wanted a real orchestra feel for this track so I asked my music teacher, Bob Resseger, if he would be interested in scoring something for us ... and he wrote all these really cool parts for all these different instruments. We did the recording at Chess Records. In fact, Jerry Goodman isn't even on this session ... he hadn't joined the band yet ... but get this, his MOTHER was on the session!!! She was one of the players that The Chicago Symphony Orchestra sent over for the recording session. (I don't know if I've ever told this story before!) So she comes walking into the studio and Jerry was there just kinda hangin' out and helping us get our stuff together and he looks up and sees his mother coming into the studio and calls out "Mom, what are YOU doing here?!?!?" She had been hired for the session ... so Jerry's Mom actually played on a Flock record before Jerry even joined the group!
>>>The release of the group’s second album, Dinosaur Swamps, in the middle of 1970, marked another change. Produced by Ron McClure, it showed a more unified group effort than the first. It was a concept album which attempted to link the spirit of the past and the present. Webb wrote three of the songs and was featured more often as soloist. He sang lead on the lively “Mermaid,” a song which brought folklore into the Flock’s rock. (Jeff Lind)
FG: First of all, "Dinosaur Swamps" was produced by JOHN McClure, not Ron McClure ... and Webb did NOT sing lead on "Mermaid" ... that's Fred Glickstein ... me!!!
We certainly welcome input from any of the other members of The Flock to help us keep the story straight. As one of the oft-forgotten bands to come out of the Chicago area during the '60's, The Flock achieved worldwide success with their own special brand of progressive rock and roll. Their albums all made Billboard's Top 100 List and they performed on the same stage along with some of the biggest names in music history ... yet when most people recall the hey-day of Chicago Rock, The Flock are typically left off the list. Hopefully we've introduced you to some of their music this past week in Forgotten Hits. (kk)
